Saturday, June 23, 2012

It has been quite awhile since I popped in to say hello. Every free moment (when I have been in town) has been spent working on the blue cottage, soon to be my new home. I have not done all the work myself, but actually did a substantial amount, including tiling, painting, plaster repair, and some trim work. It has been an exhausting, but ultimately rewarding, process.

The above image shows the hobbit-like pantry, one of the most charming things about the house. It is covered in beadboard, which I recently painted a creamy white.

Everything in the house has been covered -- walls, ceilings, and trim-- with the same delicious shade of white. I have used twenty-three gallons so far, and that is only for the downstairs. Most surfaces have required three or four coats to cover the previous shades of vibrant green that covered walls and the brown-painted baseboards.

The bathroom was completely re-done, with the exception of the old cast-iron tub. I liked its curved apron and depth, so we decided to keep it. I tiled the tub surround with 3" x 6" subway tiles, a project that took me five days from start to finish. We installed floor-to-ceiling beadboard in the bathroom, and I am in love with the way it adds height to this room, where the ceilings are a standard 8' high. The mirror has yet to be hung; we are still working on finishing the little things.

After removing the old drop-ceiling from the dining room, living room, and master bedroom, the ceilings soar to 10'. I spent several days covered in dust from doing plaster repairs. There were lots of holes in the ceiling from where the supports for the drop ceiling had been nailed to the ceiling joists. Multiple coats of EZ Sand and lots of hand sanding did the trick. I finished the final sanding today and painted the ceilings! What a relief to have that part of things completed. The new chandelier in the dining room is from Pottery Barn, as is the sisal rug rolled up and stored under the table. I purchased a huge, cherry dining table from a local antiques shop and brought it straight over to the new house. An old sheet protects it from all the dust and debris.

During and after shots of the living room. The hideous drop ceiling is visible in the second photo. There is still a pile of trim boards in the middle of the room (top), but I wanted to give all my lovely readers an update and decided to overlook the mess. The flooring throughout is a new laminate. Unfortunately, when we tore out the old carpeting, we discovered that the pine floors had been ruined beyond repair. They had, at one time, been covered in linoleum, and the thick swirls of glue were still adhered to the pine floors. This laminate was used throughout the downstairs, and I already like the way it grounds all the white space.

A view from the living room into the master bedroom. The wall with multi-colored boards was once a door that our handy man covered with scrap lumber. The intent was to cover it to match the rest of the walls, but I'm not sure now. I kind of like it's quirky charm. What do you think?

This is a corner closet under the stairs, the one place where the original base board and pine floor still exists. It is so sad that all this gorgeous wood work was stripped away and discarded. I was able to salvage the original trim boards that span the opening between the living and dining rooms. And some of the original doors remain intact. Salvaged doors will be installed where original doors are missing.

I hope you have enjoyed this mini tour of my new house. If all goes well this week, and I finish the remaining little things, we plan to move in over the weekend.

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Natural Decor is my take on cottage style decor, with a harmonious blending neutral backdrops, sprinkled with shades of calm, an abundance of indoor and outdoor greenery, and a melange of organic elements.

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About Me

These pages contain musings on living and the concept of home. As a child, all I wanted to do was play house and decorate. This site indulges those deep passions. It is also where I explore other interestes such as nature, art, poetry, and photography, my tribute to living a creative life.